Caption: Synchrotron particle accelerator. Equipment used to produce the particle beam for a synchrotron. This is the synchrotron at the Kurchatov Institute research centre. A synchrotron is a circular accelerator that accelerates particles by using strong electric and magnetic fields. Particle accelerators are used to accelerate particles to produce high-energy collisions. The results help physicists understand the structure of matter and the origins of the universe. Photographed in 2006, in Moscow, Russia.